for example, talk about Mediterranean culture in terms of its
unity, emphasizing characteristics that may be found throughout
its length and breadth (e.g. Esler 1994: 19–36). I must confess
that, while I have some sympathy with this approach, my overall
view is somewhat different. Although there are certainly some
features – both now and in antiquity – that unite the Mediter-
ranean, the region as a whole is equally a mosaic of smaller
cultural units. My thinking here is influenced by Fernand Braudel
(1902–85), the great twentieth-century French historian who did
so much to emphasize the unity of the Mediterranean but also
highlighted its diversity. He wrote:
The Mediterranean is not a single sea but a succession of
small seas that communicate by means of wider or narrower
entrances... [T]here is a series of highly individual narrow
seas between the land masses, each with its own character,
types of boat, and its own laws of history... Even within
these seas smaller areas can be distinguished, for there is
hardly a bay in the Mediterranean that is not a miniature
community, a complex world itself.
(Braudel 1972: I, 108–10)Braudel’s analysis, although it drew on data from all periods,
concentrated on the sixteenth century. Late in life, he turned his
attention to the Mediterranean in antiquity (and prehistory); but
the results were not published until after his death (Braudel 2001).
Even so, Braudel’s influence on historians of the Mediterranean
in the classical world has been considerable, particularly where
modern historians of the ancient world have chosen to study
developments over the long term (what Braudel called the longue
durée) rather than focus on the events of traditional political
history. Indeed, recent studies have similarly emphasized for
antiquity and the middle ages that the unity of the Mediterranean
can be only loosely defined. Moreover, such unity is held in
tension by the diversity of the region’s constituent environments
and cultures (Hordern and Purcell 2000: 9–49, 485–523).
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